Thailand aims at $65b tourism revenue in 2014

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-7-10 13:42:37

Thailand expects to receive more than 164 million domestic and foreign tourists in 2014, generating a record-breaking 2 trillion baht (about $65 billion) in revenue, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said on Wednesday.

In its Marketing Action Plan for 2014 released to the private sector and media, TAT said it has set a 2014 target of 28.01 million international tourist arrivals, generating an estimated foreign exchange revenue of 1.326 trillion baht ($43 billion), up 13 percent over 2013. For the domestic market, the target was set at 136.8 million trips, generating estimated 700 billion baht ($22 billion), up 9 percent over 2013.

It means that for the first time in the history of Thai tourism, the TAT set a target of 2 trillion baht total earnings from both domestic and foreign visitors.

TAT Governor Suraphon Svetasreni said "Thainess" and "balance" will be the key words driving its marketing strategies in the future. It will focus on raising awareness of Thailand as a " Quality Destination" with a broad diversity of experiences and balancing the source markets by refocusing the customer segments to high-end markets.

In addition, the agency will work to reduce visitor congestion in popular destinations, better balance the distribution of visitors nationwide while promoting Green Tourism in order to lower the environmental impact of high visitor arrivals.

"Thailand is blessed with an unmatched geographical advantage. We had to find ways of adapting our strategies to take advantage of our strengths and address some of the looming weaknesses," said the governor.